OREANDA-NEWS. Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB, identification code 304151376, registered office placed at Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania. The total number of registered ordinary shares issued by company is 894 630 333; ISIN code LT0000130023.

During 2015, a power distribution company LESTO was increasing investment into modernisation of its electricity distribution network and improving the network reliability indicators. Furthermore, having improved its efficiency last year, the Company contributed to achieving more favourable electricity prices in 2016 – the weighted average price for distribution services decreased by more than 1 %.

In 2015, the net profit of LESTO accounted for EUR 72.5 million. While the net loss of LESTO in 2014 was reported at EUR 164.6 million, after having adjusted according to the results of long-term property, plant and equipment value estimation.

During 2015, the Company transmitted to its customers 8.529 TWh of electricity, i.e. 1.6 % more than in 2014. The proceeds from the transmission operations account for 2/3 of the total income of LESTO. In 2015, the revenue of the power distribution company LESTO were reported at EUR 581.8 million, by 10.6% down from 2014. The Company's revenues decreased mostly due to lower electric energy prices in 2015.

In 2015, LESTO generated EUR 124.8 million EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation), 3.1 % less than in 2014. In the course of the period being compared the EBITDA margin increased by 1.65 percentage points up to 21.46 %.

Last year, the Company's investment into the network modernisation and development was reported at EUR 117.6 million, up by 15.9 % as compared to 2014. As compared to 2014, the largest increase, i.e. by 53.1 %, up to EUR 57.1 million, was recorded in the investment in the reconstruction and upgrading of low voltage network.

'The consistently increased investment into modernisation of electricity distribution network enabled the Company to ensure better quality of the services to the customers. This is also reflected in the improved customer satisfaction indicator which last year improved by 4 points, and was recorded at 80. Now having merged the electricity and gas distribution operators and using smart technologies, we will have a unique possibility to offer to our customers even more centrally provided services – even more reliable services able to meet new needs of our customers, a simplified and faster electricity and gas inlet', says Liudas Liutkevi?ius, Chairman of the Board and the CEO of AB Energijos skirstymo operatorius (ESO).

As compared to the last year in 2015, the system average interruption duration index (SAIDI) with the impact of force majeure per single customer decreased by 37.51 min to 106.53 min. The system average interruption frequency index taking into account the force majeure impact (SAIFI) during the period being compared decreased from 1.29 to 1.06 times.

The electricity acquisition and related services costs in the course of the year decreased by 14.8 % to EUR 373.8 million. The largest contributors to the improvements were lower electricity acquisition at the exchange costs, lower prices for electricity transmission and systemic services.

Last year LESTO provided the network access or the power increase service to 28.5 thousand customers, by 7.8 % more than in 2014. The permissible power of the equipment connected by customers was 386.9 kW, i.e. by 15.2 % higher than in 2014. For the first time, there were 17.6 thousand customers connected to the network, i.e. 0.65 % more than in 2014, and the permissible power of the objects was by 6.73 % higher than in previous years.

A new company Energijos skirstymo operatorius (ESO) established on the basis of a power supply and distribution company LESTO and natural gas distribution company Lietuvos dujos started its operations on 1 January 2016.